network file storage....

[rubberman]

I got a home network which i have a Dell desktop (with me) wired to the router and my laptop (with xp) using a wireless card. I have a 3rd comp0uter that is 200mhz and a 2.2gig HD that i would like to use for storage of pics and mpeg videos. How do i go about this? do i even need an OS on this machine?

[nightheart]

with a 2.2 gig hd, your not going to store many mpegs or even pics, but here goes. You need an OS, 2000 would be ideal. Then you connect it to your router either wired or wirelessly, and set-up filesharing. Make sure all 3 pc's are using the same "workgroup" and selet a folder to share on the third pc. This folder will be assessable from the other 2 PC's and they can copy files to and from ths folder. I can get more indepth if you need specific help, but like i said 2.2 gigs isn't much space.

[rubberman]

i have another 2 gig HD that i can add. Have you used Easy File Sharing Webserver or Abyss webserver? these are shareware. I've been playing around with the Easy file share webserver and cant access the computer. The internal IP is 192.168.0.104 with the IP being xxx.xxx.xx.xx:port80. it keeps putting the internal IP in the space. But even if i change it the public IP it still doesnt access that page. In my router i have that IP/port open.

[nightheart]

are you trying to access the files from outside your home? If not, your making it a lot harder than it is. If you are trying to access them from another PC, that does get a little more fun. I never used easy file or abyss, either, so this probably won't be much help. You need to set-up the router to forward the port to the ip of computer you want to use, so forward it 192.168.0.104 (btw some routers get confused if you use internal addresses over 192.168.0.50). Set the easy file software to use the internal ip like 192.168.0.140:80 (80 being the port), and when you access it from outside your network, use the external ip like xx.xx.xx.xx:80.

The short version is this. When an ouside PC trys to access your files, it goes to the router first (outside ip address), it needs to send it to your pc, (inside ip address) and then your pc needs to have the files. Good luck, if that doesn't work, you might be waiting for someone else to come along. Don't forget to open the ports on any software firewalls you have running on the PC as well.